The Maltese Falcon begins with the murder of Sam Spade's partner Miles Archer, a crime that takes place in a fog-shrouded San Francisco alley. As portrayed in John Houston's 1941 film, however, the location of the murder seems rather puzzling. After an establishing shot of a street sign -- the intersection of Bush St. and Stockton … Continue reading The Maltese Falcon: The Scene of the Crime→

Seventy-five years ago today, playwright Howard E. Koch had less than a week to write the script for the next episode of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air. Producer John Houseman had given him the assignment: Dramatize H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds as a radio play. Koch knew he would have to … Continue reading Return to the Scene of the Martian Invasion→

Following Adobe Systems' MAX developer's conference in Los Angeles in late October of last year, I attended a performance by singer/songwriter Kat Parsons at a private home in Los Angeles' storied Laurel Canyon. It was an apt location for an intimate evening of music. While the history of Laurel Canyon reaches back to the dawn of the … Continue reading The Spirit of Laurel Canyon→

Each time I drive down California Highway 1 -- from Devil's Slide through Half Moon Bay past Moss Landing over the Carmel Highlands and down to Big Sur -- the words of William Irwin Thompson from chapter 2 of At the Edge of History always echo in my mind: The winding two-lane highway rests on … Continue reading Driving CA-1→

In the world of David Lynch, there are no coincidences. Or maybe everything is coincidence. But in the Lynchian world, coincidences are full of meaning. Consider, for example, Lynch's explanation of the title of his most recent feature film, INLAND EMPIRE, in his book Catching the Big Fish: THE NAME One day, still very early in … Continue reading Twin Peaks meets INLAND EMPIRE→

On my one night out in downtown Chicago while attending Adobe's MAX 2007 conference, I visited the Billy Goat Tavern, the place made famous by the Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd that gave us the catchphrases "cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger," "no fries -- cheeps" and "no Coke -- Pepsi." In contrast … Continue reading Cheezborgers and the Underground World→

During a recent trip to New York to document Lance Weiler's Head Trauma movie and interactive "alternate reality game" at the Museum of the Moving Image, I strolled around midtown Manhattan and stumbled across the new New York Times building at 620 8th Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets, across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It's … Continue reading That’s Right, It’s ‘Times’ Square→